Double Chocolate Mousse Torte

This fudgy double chocolate mousse torte topped with sweetened cream and raspberries is decadent, delicious, and surprisingly easy to make!

Where do fancy-shmancy desserts fit into your life?

Do you make them? Eat them? Order them at restaurants? Only dream of them? None of the above?

This double chocolate mousse torte is no doubt as fancy-shmancy as they come (well, at least in my simple world). It is incredibly delicious and is easily one of my favorite desserts of all time.

Talk about being a perfect, special Valentine’s Day treat.

I wasn’t actually planning on posting about it today.

I mean, I posted about it a loooong time ago (back in 2010), and since I already gave you a recipe repost this week in the name of White Velvet Sugar Cookies, I thought I’d give you a break.

But, in the end, I couldn’t resist (granted, self-control has never been my strong suit).

Today’s my birthday. The big 3-9 to be exact.

And this very cake – this amazing and decadent and perfect double chocolate mousse torte – is currently sitting in my refrigerator right down the hallway there…and I swear I can smell it.

It’s tempting me with every breath I take.

So I figured, hey, if I’m going to break every self-control rule in the name of indulging in all things double chocolate mousse on my birthday, then you should have the same chance.

Of course, you’ll have to whip this baby up yourself (I can’t guarantee there’ll be any left in my house by the time you read this), but at least I’m coming clean about one of my favorite recipes and giving you the chance to make it ASAP.

This double chocolate mousse torte truly is one of my most-loved recipes ever. If you’ve experienced the deliciousness, you’ll understand why I desperately wanted to tell you about it today.

It’s stood with me through the test of time. While some recipes get posted and shared…and forgotten (sad, but true), this one has not.

I’ve requested it for more birthdays than not over the last seven years, and I make it all the time when we entertain company or want a special Sunday dessert.

But if there’s one thing I want you to come away with today, it is that this is actually a very, very easy dessert to make (the hardest part is washing the few bowls it takes to come together…or maybe waiting for it to chill in the refrigerator; yep, that’s way harder than doing the dishes).

While the idea of making chocolate mousse might seem terrifying, stick with me here, because it is shockingly simple.

When I posted the original recipe in 2010, it involved making a chocolate mousse recipe that, while delicious, called for using raw eggs (and several additional steps to whip the egg whites and other things).

Because I knew that some people have an aversion to eating raw eggs, I also included an alternate egg-free mousse recipe. Gosh, I was nicer back then than I am today.

Over the years, as I’ve made this torte dozens and dozens of times, I’ve almost exclusively used that “alternate” recipe – a quick chocolate mousse that calls for whisking melted chocolate and cocoa powder together and then lightening up the whole mixture with a “little” sweetened whipped cream.

The recipe below is basically the same recipe I posted all those years ago, but I’ve replaced that original eggy (for lack of a better term) chocolate mousse with the recipe/method I’ve been using since then.

But don’t panic! If you’ve come to rely and love the original recipe, I’ve included the details in the notes of the recipe, so you can continue to make it the same way.

I know a few of you don’t like it when I take recipes out of the archives and repost with updated ingredients/directions.

When I do this, I always try to make a note of any changes for those that love the original. But usually, the changes are a good thing…and the whole reason I’m reposting the recipe again.

So don’t be mad. Be glad, ok? My goal is for everyone to be glad here. Especially today. No mad people on my birthday, pretty please?

If you get mad, I’ll be inclined to self-medicate with an extra piece of double chocolate mousse torte, and my metabolism ain’t what it used to be, so take some pity on this old girl, will ya?

Just a quick note about pans: this recipe calls for a springform pan.

Can you make it in a traditional cake pan? (A question I get a lot on this recipe and others that call for a springform pan.)

Sure, but just keep in mind that it will be harder to get the slices neat and purty…and if using a 9-inch cake pan, you’ll need one with at least 3-inch sides so the mousse and whipped cream stay put.

If you are completely undone (like I’m completely undone) by over-the-top, highly chocolate desserts that look like a million bucks and taste even better?

Well, this double chocolate mousse torte is for you.

The fact that it’s stayed a favorite after all these years means it is a keeper. Plus, it can be made ahead of time, which is always a huge bonus, if you ask me.

So no matter where you fall on the fancy-shmancy dessert spectrum, you should definitely start planning when you can make this easier-than-it-looks double chocolate mousse torte.

And when you do, think of me sitting here another year older…and still greatly loving me some double chocolate mousse torte (that’s living proof right there that age brings wisdom; we’ll forget about how age brings a whole lot of other “factors” to deal with).

Directions:

Combine the chocolate and butter in a saucepan or in a microwave-safe bowl. Melt over low heat (on the stovetop) or on 50% power in the microwave at 1-minute increments, stirring in between.

Cool the mixture to lukewarm. Whisk in the sugar to combine.

Add the eggs one at a time, blending well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla and salt. Add the flour and mix until just combined.

Pour the batter into the springform pan. Bake until the cake just rises in center (a tester inserted into center will not come out clean) and springs back lightly to the touch, 30-35 minutes.

Cool completely in the pan (the center of the cake may fall slightly). Cover and chill while making mousse.

For the mousse, whisk together the cocoa powder and hot water in a small bowl; set aside.

Melt the chocolate and butter together in a microwave-safe bowl on 50% power, stirring often, until smooth (don’t overheat!). Whisk the cocoa/water mixture into the melted chocolate until smooth (if there are little lumps, you can press the mixture through a fine mesh strainer into a clean bowl). Let it cool to room temperature (just slightly lukewarm is fine, too, as long as it isn’t warm or hot).

In a medium bowl with an electric mixer, whip the cream, granulated sugar, vanilla, and salt at medium speed until the mixture begins to thicken, about 30 seconds. Increase the speed to high and whip until soft peaks form when beaters are lifted (I often use my Blendtec blender to whip cream – only takes a few seconds).

Using a rubber spatula, fold 1/3 of the whipped cream into chocolate mixture to lighten. Fold in the remaining whipped cream until no white streaks remain.

Spoon the mousse over the cooled cake. Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or up to 1 day.

Run a sharp knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the torte if it hasn’t pulled away from the sides of the pan while cooling.

Release the springform pan sides. Transfer the torte to a platter, if desired (often, I just leave it on the base of the springform pan).

For the whipped cream topping, using an electric mixer, beat the cream and powdered sugar in a medium bowl until soft peaks form. Spread the whipped cream over the torte. Dust with grated chocolate, if desired.

Top with raspberries. Chill for up to an hour or serve immediately.

Notes:

This recipe, originally posted in 2010, had a mousse recipe that used raw egg whites and yolks. I’ve found over the years that I far prefer the alternate mousse recipe that had been listed in the original blog post. I’ve updated the recipe using that favorite egg-free mousse recipe, but for those of you that prefer the other, I’ve kept it in the notes below the recipe.

Not all chocolate chips melt the same – if you have good-quality bar chocolate (I love the pounds plus bars at Trader Joe’s or the Ghirardelli blocks at some grocery stores), use it. If not, I’ve found that Ghirardelli and Guittard chocolate chips melt the best and I’ve used both in this recipe before (semisweet and bittersweet).

Also, a lot of people have asked over the years if this can be made in a “normal” cake pan and not a springform pan. I suppose it could, but keep in mind the slices won’t be quite as neat when cutting and serving, AND you’ll want to make sure the sides of the pan are at least 3-inches high so the dessert can be properly layered.

Melt butter in medium metal bowl set over saucepan of simmering water (do not allow bottom of bowl to touch water). Whisk yolks, 1/4 cup cream and vanilla in small bowl to blend. Gradually whisk yolk mixture into bowl with melted butter. Whisk constantly over simmering water until thermometer registers 150°F, about 6 minutes (mixture may appear broken – mine did not but it was very thick like custard or pudding). Remove from over water; add chocolate and stir to melt. Set aside. Beat egg whites and 1/2 cup sugar and a pinch of cornstarch in large bowl to medium-stiff peaks. Whisk 1/4 of beaten egg white mixture into warm chocolate mixture to lighten. Fold in remaining egg white mixture.

Recipe Source: adpated slightly from Epicurious and chocolate mousse adapted from Cook’s Illustrated
Originally posted March 2010; updated with new pictures, recipes notes, and commentary.

Disclaimer: this post contains Amazon affiliate links for products I’ve bought there; feel free to shop around for the best deal!

196 comments on “Double Chocolate Mousse Torte”

Hi Mel. Just wanted to say thanks for all the amazing recipes. My 5 year old daughter wanted to make a mousse and I have never done it before. The directions were easy and we had a lot of fun making it. Delicious as always!

I made this last week for my daughter’s birthday, and we all really loved it! The only problem I had was that, even though I sprayed the pan with non-stick spray first, the cake part really stuck to the pan. I mean—really stuck. I eventually was able to scrape it loose and store it in another container. Any suggestions for the next time I make it? Thanks for an amazingly wonderful recipe!

I took a risk and made this for the first time for my sister’s bridal shower and most people who tried it loved it! (Although it was too rich of a semisweet flavor for my brother who snuck in and stole a slice.) Because it was so rich I was able to get away with slicing it into 24 very thin slivers of dessert (but we also had several other desserts available so most tried a few desserts).

Mel, looking forward to making this! I would likely want to make it a day ahead, but my thought was to do the cake base the day before serving (in the morning) and put it in the fridge overnight, and then the mousse the next morning to give it time to set, and serve in the evening. Do you see any issue with that?

My daughter requested a chocolate mousse cake to celebrate her 17th birthday this year, so I made this today for our family gathering. It was a big hit with everyone and even had family members commenting that this could rival our long-time traditional birthday cake, which is a much beloved multi-layer mocha torte. I debated making the version with the more traditional mousse, but decided to go with the simpler whipped cream version and since it received rave reviews I think I’d be inclined to stick with it this way. Thank you Mel. We now have a new favourite cake at our house!

I meant to mention that I used a 9-inch springform, but I think next time I’d be inclined to try the 10-inch just to produce a slightly thinner torte, so that cutting the same sized wedge would yield a shorter piece. This is so rich, a little goes a long way.

I’d meant to make this for Valentine’s Day but just didn’t have the time. I finally got to it and it was delicious! We all enjoyed it and it was fun having something that seemed so fancy even though it was so easy to make!

Mel, we made this for Valentine’s Day and it was DEE–licious!! BUT. Please tell me your tricks for slicing up this beauty–I had trouble with it sticking to the knife, and the pan, and the spatula, and the fork I used to “slide” it off the spatula onto the plate before face-planting the piece . . . Ha! Don’t worry, we still devoured it! Thanks!

Hey Roslyn – I use a long 9-inch chef’s knife. If the torte is on the sticky/gooey side of things (even after being chilled), I run the knife under hot water, wipe dry and slice (and repeat that process in between slices).

I made this for Sunday dinner and my husband said it was the best dessert I have ever made! I said better than the triple chocolate cheesecake? YUP! Better than the mousse? YUP! He said, “What is better than putting cake and mousse TOGETHER?!” So thank you. We will be making this again!

Hope you had a wonderful Birthday! I made this for my family for Valentines Day. It was fabulous and tasted even better for breakfast the next morning 😉 Your blog is my favorite recipe site! Thanks for all the great tasting recipes.

I made this for our Valentine’s dessert and it was a hit! So fancy and so yummy. It was so rich but not too sweet. The chocolate torte part was a little too bitter for me… and not really bitter, but I used bitter sweet chocolate in that part and wished I used semisweet. I used semi sweet in the mousse. We all loved it. So decadent! Thanks Mel!!

Oh my goodness, this was delicious! So rich though, that I should’ve cut it even smaller than 12 pieces. We all really enjoyed this torte, even though i think I didn’t cook the base layer quite enough and didn’t have enough cream for the whipped cream layer. Thanks for this great recipe that looks fussy, but wasn’t!

This is a terrible question to ask, but would it be a huge no-no to freeze the mousse for a short time, just to expedite the setting process a little bit? My worn out pregnant body was screaming for a nap this afternoon, and so I indulged (and my body thanked me!) but now I see that I did not pay close attention to the details and my special Valentine’s Day dessert won’t be ready to serve until 11PM, hahaha!!

Also, with 2K shares, all the raves above, and all the surely countless others who made this as well without sharing or posting, since probably a decent number of these cooks were whipping this up for Valentine’s Day, doesn’t it make you feel good to know that you contribute not only to everyone’s culinary experiences, but also to making happy, lovey marriages? 🙂

Made this torte this morning for our Valentine’s dinner tonight. Since there are only two of us and I didn’t want (need) a whole torte sitting around for me to eat for the rest of the week, I cut the recipe in half and split it between 3 4-inch mini spring pans. It worked out perfectly! The mousse came exactly to the top of the pans. Baked the cake layer at 325 for about 25 minutes. I haven’t tried the whole thing together, but each part was yummy yummy! Thank you so much for such a delicious, easy and impressive dessert!

Since there are only two of us as well, I made half a recipe also. It works great in a 7 inch springform pan. Baked it for the same amount of time as the recipe above. Thanks for such wonderful, well tested recipes, Mel. I don’t comment but use a bunch of your recipes on a regular basis.

I started this last night for our Valentine’s Dinner tonight. I used my springform pan and it started dripping through into the oven. Maybe I didn’t have the bottom of the pan in the ring well enough or something. All in all, after a very smoky house, it seems to have baked well and the mousse went together beautifully! Excited to try it tonight!

The same thing happened to me! I think the pan I bought just leaks though because no matter how I put it together, it still leaks. I had to improvise with foil to keep the batter in the pan. Crossing my fingers it works!

Happy Belated Birthday! When I saw this recipe I thought, wait, isn’t that the same as an older one? Then I kept reading. This is my FAVORITE chocolate torte. Gimme the dense, rich chocolate goodness anytime! I just wanted to let you know that I’ve made this with gluten free flour and it was great, AND when I made it last month I discovered my 1/4 c flour all measured out and sitting on the counter, all lonely like. I forgot to add it. I was worried, but it still turned out amazing! So, it can be completely free of flour! Thanks for all your glorious recipes.

I’ve made this with gluten free flour and it was great, AND when I made it last month I discovered my 1/4 c flour all measured out and sitting on the counter, all lonely like. I forgot to add it. I was worried, but it still turned out amazing! Maybe it was just a fluke, but it was so great and it’s a showstopper.

Hi Robyn – several readers have commented that they’ve made this gluten-free – scroll through the comment thread and you’ll see their comments (one of them used another recipe, I believe, for the base, and someone else used a gluten-free flour blend for the 1/4 cup flour in the cake batter).

I am just seeing this and had to comment because Friday was my birthday too!! When I make your recipes for dinner my kids will say “oh it’s one of Mel’s recipes so it’s gonna be good”. If the 2 younger ones start to complain I always remind them that your kids loved it so it has to be good. 🙂 Thank you for saving me MANY nights. You are awesome. Happy belated Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday Mel. I’m one day later on the 11th. I love your web site and reading about your family. Many a meal has been made at our house with your recipes. Thanks for all the hard work. On My B;day, we visited our daughter up at college and she had an ice cream cake for me from the school Daily Barn. They have cows at her college!
You and I are both Aquarius, gregarious Aquarius, I say! Keep those great meals coming.

We had our family Valentine’s Day dinner tonight and I made this for dessert. Oh my goodness!!! Your recipes are always winners, but you really outdid yourself this time!! Not only is it super impressive looking, but it is so, so good! Like something you’d get at a nice restaurant! I can see why you’d make it for your own birthday. 😉 Thanks for sharing it!

Belated Happy Birthday, Mel. Hubby’s is next week. He is not quite twice your age, but close. I see that I have the recipe saved in your blog’s file on my computer but had never gotten around to making it so am so glad that you reposted. I think that it will birthday dessert for him. I have made and enjoyed many recipes of yours. Thanks for sharing. I really like it when you update recipes that have been on the blog for awhile.

Happy Birthday …My birthday was yesterday too! But I think that I am a little older than you, 71 to be honest, but who cares this recipe is for everyone. Since I live close to you, I was wondering if you made me one for my birthday too!
Thanks for all the great recipes.

Happy Happy Birthday Mel!!! I hope you’ve had a truly wonderful day! Thank you for sharing this with us one your day, I’m definitely excited to try it, thinking it will be perfect for Valentine’s Day! And just for the record I think pulling recipes from your archives is great! I’ve been following your blog and loving your recipes for years, (I can’t remember when I started!) by I haven’t seen this from 2010 so I’m happy you refreshed it! Thanks again for being so dang awesome! You are my favorite blogger ever and I my go to for recipes! Heck you’re one of my favorite people ever!

Thanks for the recipe Mel–we are going to make it for a special Valentine’s Day dessert! Happy birthday! I was delighted to find out that we are almost the same age–I will be 39 on May 10! You are seriously a household name at our house. My kids laugh because they know I get all my recipes from my “friend” Mel. You are amazing and I’m so grateful for all the great recipes you’ve posted over the years!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MEL! Thanks for everything that you do to help us all be rock stars in the kitchen. 90% of what I cook comes from your blog 🙂 And this chocolate mousse torte looks like something I NEED in my life!

Happy Birthday!! I sure hope nobody posts anything mean to you on your birthday (not that other days would be okay, but you know… the internet. So sad you have to beg for people not to be mean. Bah). I like when you re-post older recipes because then I know to pay attention.

Happy Birthday! I usually request a cheesecake for my birthday, but this just might surpass that this year! Just went to the store to get all the ingredients to make it for Valentine’s day. Thanks for all you do Mel! Hope you have a wonderful birthday because you sure deserve it! Hope your day is filled with No dirty dishes or laundry to do and no dinner to make!! Make sure your family spoils you!

Happy Birthday, Mel!!
You’ve put me in a cunnundrum. This delectable dessert, or cheesecake in the IP?! Might have to do both!
Speaking of IP cheesecakes… do you have a 7″ springform pan for your IP, and if so- what brand?
I just ordered one and it’s really short.

This recipe definitely deserves repetition– it is so delicious and I have always preferred the whipped cream mousse because it’s easier and I like the texture better. If anyone needs a gluten-free brownie base like I did once for some guests, this brownie layer (not the cream cheese layer) from this recipe worked perfectly and is the right amount for a 9″ springform pan: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/fudgy-gluten-free-cream-cheese-brownies

Happy birthday Mel! I have been following your blog for several years now, and I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoy your recipes! If I am looking for a recipe, I go to your blog first, because your recipes are fool-proof, delicious, and straight-forward. I know if it’s from you, I can trust it. I feel like you GET feeding a family. Your recipes are things that my husband and kids will eat!! Our all-time favourite is Fire Cracker chicken, even my little ones will eat it, but I have made so many things from your site. Thanks for all your work, I appreciate it so much! And I pinned that recipe too- hoping to make it next week as a Valentine’s treat for the family!

Many, many felicitacions on what I hope is your Happiest Birthday Ever!! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again- this world is a MUCH BETTER PLACE for you being in it!! Thank you for sharing your wondefulness with us!! Love you, friend!! Many Happy Returns!!

Happy Birthday, Mel! I was recently introduced to your blog by a friends and your recipes are wonderful. But I am wondering about the flour in this recipe – I am celiac, so I wondered if a GF flour blend will achieve the same results?

I got an email this morning from Michaels craft saying Happy Half Birthday, here’s a coupon because half birthdays are a real thing. Then I saw your post title and thought, hey a cake for my half birthday, perfect, an excuse to make it, then I see that it’s Your actual birthday! Yay!! Happiest of Birthdays, Friend. Now I have all sorts of reasons to go and make this right away. And I’ll never forget the date of your birthday. Hope your kiddos spoil you rotten today. You deserve it!

Thanks, Nathalie – I had three birthday wishes: 1) a clean house, which is why I busted my tail to get it cleaned yesterday, 2) minimal blogging (breaking that rule right now) and 3) that my kids would get along (hmmm, we’ll see how that goes). I’m looking forward to a day of minimal fuss and lots of family time. 🙂

Happy Birthday! I hope you have a wonderful day and all your wishes come true. I just love your humor it cracks me up. My husband teases me and says my family likes anything with chocolate on more chocolate and topped off with chocolate. This seems like a great recipe for us.

Oh my gosh Mel, this is probably my favorite of all your recipes which is saying a LOT. I’ve made it three times in the last year and am usually trying to find another holiday to make it for. I’m glad to hear you say you usually did the alternate mousse recipe because after trying both, I MUCH preferred that one AND it was way easier. Win! I was going to try your pots de creme for Valentine’s but boy this is hard to pass up. Hmmm we’ll see…Thanks again for all the great recipes!!!

Oh, and for those wondering, I easily made this gluten free by subbing the white flour for gluten-free flour. Since there is so little flour in the cake, I didn’t make any other adjustments and it tasted just as the same as the other times I’ve made it. Yum!

Mel, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! My kids tease me about how every new recipe I try is from your site (that’s not completely true, but close), and how I, um, sometimes refer to the source casually as though we were buddies, as in, “This recipe? it’s from Mel.” But really, I am so grateful for this blog and the way it has enriched my dinner making experience and blessed my family. I hope you have a wonderful birthday and get to enjoy every bite of this torte.

I loved this! I love all your recipes. I was browsing your recipes trying to find something chocolate for my daughter to make as a thanksgiving dessert (she volunteered), and I thought of this, but I couldn’t find it in cakes or pies. What category is it filed under? Thanks!

Made this for Christmas Dinner . . . oh my goodness! So delicious! Hardly any leftovers and I will definately be making it again. Somewhat labor intensive but nice that you can make it in different steps. To all you thinking about making it do it! Don’t be intimidated by the multiple layers. Thank you for such an amazing blog. BTW, I used a 9 inch pan and it turned out just fine.

I’ve made this twice– both versions. It is incredibly good (wouldn’t it violate some law of thermodynamics if a cake that called for 1lb of chocolate wasn’t good?). I think I prefer the whipped cream mousse version, which I made last night because I had a pregnant guest. It’s a little bit faster and I like the texture slightly better (still, both versions are beyond delicious). This is a definite crowd pleaser.

Ooooh MY. This cake was the-best-cake-that-was-ever-eaten. EVER. Made yesterday for husbands b-day and entire family groaned and insisted on it for all upcoming birthdays of all times. AMAZING. THANK YOU!

Happy Holidays Mel! I just wanted to pop in and say I made this for Christmas. I also used the base cake and topped it with a peanut butter cream cheese mousse covered in chocolate ganache and it was heavenly! I hope you had a wonderful day!

Yes, yes, and yes!! I was scanning through the comments and saw a few people mention that they couldn’t wait for the next special occasion to make this and I was thinking of how bad I am…I always make stuff like this just because…and then I wonder why I’m not losing weight while breastfeeding twins!! This recipe is absolutely DIVINE! I wanted to eat the whole bowl of mousse by itself! Thanks for a wonderful recipe.

So to follow up on my panicky comment: I popped that baby into the freezer for maybe twenty minutes, and then the fridge for about two hours, and it set perfectly. The texture was fabulous too, so I think all is well that ended well! It was astronomically delish! Thanks!

Hello Mel,
So like an idiot I didn’t completely read through the instructions before I started, and I’m just not smart enough to realize that mousse would take hours to chill. SO. The cake is currently in the oven with about 10 minutes, and I’ve got family coming over for my little birthday party in about an hour. We won’t be ready for dessert for another three hours or so, but this sucker will probably only get like two hours chilling. What do you think? Should I pop it in the freezer? I’m worried about it actually freezing, and ruining the texture…. Hopefully it will be good however chilled, but I wish I had known ahead of time that this is a cake you need to make ahead…:)

Miriam – so…did it work out? I think freezing for a little wouldn’t hurt it but I hope the 2 hours of chilling time worked out ok. I usually try to make a note on the recipes what portions need to be made ahead of time. Sorry I missed the boat on this one. Happy birthday!

I just found your magnificent looking cake from a Google search of chocolate mousse tortes. I want to make this cake for someone’s birthday, but I would have to take it to a restaurant with me and it might have to sit unrefrigerated for ~2-3 hours. Do you think everything will hold up for that long? Or could I maybe freeze the cake and then take it with me to the restaurant? If that’s possible, do you have an idea of how many hours it would take to defrost?

Lillian – it makes me a tad nervous to think of this cake unrefrigerated for that long. The mousse is rather delicate and I can see that it might have the tendency to get a little melty or ultra-soft at room temperature for too long (although a cool room temperature might be ok). I’ve never frozen it so I don’t know how the texture of the mousse would hold up to that. If you had to choose between the two, I’d try to keep it at cool room temp for a couple of hours over freezing it. Good luck!

Just to clarify, because I want to make sure, when you say semi sweet chocolate, do you mean like chocolate chips, or baking chocolate (like the ones the Pioneer Woman uses to make her French Silk pie) ? Thanks!

I don’t have a working candy thermometer so I just went with your 6 minute suggestion when I made this. My custard did break at about 3 minutes. I just finished it and stuck it in the fridge so I haven’t tried the final product yet. The mousse tastes amazing but is pretty grainy right now. Do you think I overcooked the egg yolk mixture?

Natalie – hmmm, I’m not sure about the graininess. It might have been overcooked but it’s hard to know. Did it end up tasting ok? Graininess or clumpiness could be due to overcooking the egg yolk mixture but it’s hard to know exactly.

Hey, Mel….what do you think the difference would be if you used milk chocolate instead of bittersweet? I love milk chocolate, and I’d like to try it out in this recipe, but I’m hesitant because I don’t want it to be too sweet or overpowering.

Jenn – the only concern I have using milk chocolate in this recipe is that because different types of chocolate have different melting properties (based on how much cocoa butter/sugar are in them), using it might mess with the texture of the dessert. However, in my world, anything is worth a try. If you did use it, I’d probably decrease the sugar by a little to counteract the sweetness.

I made this for Father’s day.
I thought the overall recipe looked kind of complicated, but it really wasn’t. The oven was only on for 30 minutes, which is good. (I hate to bake in the summer.) It turned out great!! I thought the sweetness was just right using half semisweet and half bittersweet chocolate. Definitely as good as any restaurant dessert! Also, I cheated and used whipped cream out of a can. Saved a step.

kadie – I apologize! I hate it when I try a recipe and it isn’t accurate. I’ve edited the recipe, but here’s the low-down:

-the extra 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar was in the original recipe and was used to sprinkle over the entire torte (if using the red currant jelly, which I omitted), so I’ve taken that 1 1/2 teaspoons out of the recipe like I should have done in the first place

-the 1 cup cream is actually divided, 1/4 cup is used for the mousse and the other 3/4 cup is in the topping – I had it listed incorrectly in the recipe.

Wow! Wonderful recipe! As soon as I saw it I knew I had to make it! And I did. A few questions though…For the mousse, I noticed that the recipe calls for 1 cup whipping cream and then the directions say 1/4 mixed into the egg yolks with vanilla. Where does the rest of the cream go or is that a typo? Also in the mousse it calls for 1/2 cup plus 1 1/2 t sugar. Where does the other 1 1/2 t go? I just guessed and it turned out GREAT! But I would love to know how you did it. My husband said it was a dessert he thought you could find at a very expensive restaurant!

Wow…what a stunning dessert! I always order chocolate mousse cake when dining out, but now I can make a better version at home! If you love it, I know I will! Thanks for sharing your talent and love of cooking with us, Melanie! 🙂

I’m with Dessert for Two. Thanks for posting such a well tested recipe. I’ll feel comfortable making this for the first time for company. I’m also curious about Anne’s questions regarding freezing and preparing ahead. I’m excited about this one!

Katherine – this dessert is not overly sweet because it is made with bittersweet or semisweet chocolate. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it is definitely sweet, but not so sweet that you are gagging. Now as for rich, yes it is rich – but the lightness of the chocolate mousse layer helps offset the dark, decadent richness.

Melanie, you sold this recipe so well that I am up at 3 am finishing making it for a chocolate-making class I am hosting tomorrow. I have a few questions for future reference. Have you ever made this ahead by a few days? How does the taste/texture hold up if frozen? Can I put the mousse layer on top of the torte layer while the torte is still warm, or is cooling it fully the best bet? Thanks! I am very excited to sample it tomorrow!!

Anne – I’m excited to find out what you think about this recipe. As for your questions (Kelly had the same ones), I’ve only ever made this up to one day in advance. I would definitely not recommend freezing it. I think the mousse layer would break apart and the texture would be a little weird. However, I think you could make the base cake layer in advance and freeze that. I would thaw to room temperature before adding the mousse and whipped cream. Definitely cool the torte layer completely before adding the mousse. In fact, I need to go back and specifically state that. If the torte layer is warm at all, the mousse will melt and turn very runny. I hope that helps!